"Dark magic that rivals light magic when it comes to healing... you’re not normal. You know that, right?"

"I’ve known that for quite a while."

"Arrogant bastard." Jayden laughed, then turned to look at Lillian. "Tell Marcellus I trust him."

"That quick?"

"He’s already saved me twice. First with his weird robots, now with his healing. At this point, trusting him just feels obvious."

My eyes widened at the mention of him being saved by the G-32s, but I quickly masked the reaction as soon as I processed the information. There was no point dwelling on it.

"You’re a smart guy," I replied.

"Smart? I don’t think so. Call it... easily trusting."

"You aren’t afraid I’ll just manipulate you?"

"What choice do I have?" He shrugged. "I already know you could kill me if you wanted to."

Lillian crossed her arms, watching the two of us with something between amusement and reluctant approval. For her, this was probably the quickest alliance and trust agreement she’d ever witnessed in real time.

"Men will be men," she muttered.

***

Jayden’s smile didn’t waver at Lillian’s comment. If anything, it widened.

"Women complicate things," he said. "Men just... do."

"Do they now?" Lillian’s eyebrow arched.

"Present company excluded, of course."

"Good, I’d hate to see your healing go to waste..." Lillian poked out her tongue.

I stood, brushing off my trousers even though the cot had been perfectly clean. The flames of [Darkfire Recovery] had faded completely now, leaving nothing but the faint scent of ozone and something almost like flowers.

Lillian still watched me with that appraising look, the one that made me feel like a specimen under glass.

"You should head back up," I said to her. "Marcellus will want a full report before we move forward."

"And you?"

"I want to talk with Jayden a bit longer. Alone."

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she pushed off from the doorframe and stepped into the corridor, her heels clicking against the stone.

"Ten minutes," she said. "Then I’m heading back here."

"Generous."

"Don’t make me regret it."

She disappeared around the corner, and the sound of her footsteps faded into the damp silence of the underground.

Jayden watched her go, then turned to me. The wariness was still there, but softer now, buried beneath something that looked almost like curiosity.

"You really healed me," he said. "Not just patched me up. Healed me. I feel... I haven’t felt this good in months."

"That’s the point."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why help me? I’m nobody. Just a tool the church was going to use and discard. I have no money, no power, no connections. There’s nothing you could possibly want from me."

I sat back down on the cot, closer this time, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. Jayden didn’t pull away.

"Who said I wanted anything?"

"Everyone wants something. That’s the first thing I learned after the church grabbed me. Altruism is just a word people use when they can’t figure out your angle."

"Maybe I just don’t like seeing people get used as sacrifices."

Jayden stared at me for a long moment. Then he laughed, short and sharp, with no real humor in it.

"You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met."

"Worst...? That can’t be..."

"You sound like you’re having a crisis."

Crisis was an understatement. I literally trained for decades just to be almost perfect at lying, now way I was the worst liar he had ever met. Was he exaggerating?

"Don’t think too much about it."

"Easy for you to say..."

He shook his head, but there was something loosening in his posture. His shoulders dropped. His hands, which had been clenched in his lap, relaxed.

"The church," he said quietly, "they told me I was special. That my blood carried something ancient. Something that could stabilize the celestial alignment."

"Is that why they wanted to kill you?"

"Most likely."

***

Before ten minutes had passed, I had already extracted enough information from Jayden to put me at ease. It wasn’t much, really, which was to be expected, considering he’d been kept in the dark the entire time.

But at least it was enough to make him trust me more.

His aspirations, family members, and everything in between.

Or more specifically, the fact that this special Chosen of Elion believed what the Church was currently doing wasn’t sanctioned at all by the God of Light.

Now that was interesting.

But considering I know nothing about that particular god, I can’t exactly do anything about it.

The sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor. Lillian’s heels, sharp and precise, growing louder with each step.

"Time’s up," Jayden said.

"Seems so."

I moved toward the door, then paused with my hand on the frame.

"Jayden." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Yeah?"

"When this is over, if you survive, what will you do?"

He was quiet for a moment. Then, softly, "I don’t know. I’ve never thought about a future beyond the church."

"Start thinking," I said, glancing back at him. "If you don’t have one, maybe I’ve got something in store for you."

"I guess I’ll look forward to that."

***

Lillian was waiting in the corridor, her arms crossed, her expression caught somewhere between impatience and curiosity. Despite being the original heroine of this world, she had a more explosive temper than I expected.

Maybe that’s also a result of my interference?

"Well?"

"He’s scared. But he’ll do what we ask."

"That’s not what I meant."

I fell into step beside her as we climbed the stairs back toward the estate. "Then what did you mean?"

"What did you talk about? After I left."

"His family, aspirations, y’know, the usual."

Lillian’s stride faltered for just a moment. "That’s certainly not something I expected..."

"You expected me to interrogate him about the church’s defenses or something?"

"I expected you to be more pragmatic," Lillian admitted, her heels clicking against the stone steps. "You’re not exactly known for your soft touch."

"Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf."

She snorted. "And maybe I’m the Empress’s secret daughter. At least come up with a believable excuse."

We emerged from the stairwell into the estate’s ground floor, the sudden brightness of the morning sun making me blink. Servants hurried past, carrying trays and linens, all of them giving us a wide berth.

"Where’s everyone?" I asked.

"Marcellus moved them to the main hall. He wanted to go over the assault plan again. In detail."

"Again?"

"He’s nervous."

"He doesn’t seem the type."

"He’s the crown prince." Lillian’s voice dropped lower, almost conspiratorial. "He’s been trained to never seem the type. But I’ve known him long enough to see the cracks."

We walked through a series of corridors, past portraits of Marcellus’s ancestors, past suits of armor that had probably never seen actual battle. The estate was quieter than it had been earlier, the bustle of servants fading as we approached the more private wings.

"The main hall is this way," Lillian said, gesturing toward a set of double doors at the end of the corridor. Even from here, I could hear voices. Marcellus’s, low and urgent. Julius’s, calmer but no less intense. And Evelina’s, cutting through both of them like a blade.

"She’s something else, isn’t she?" Lillian said, noticing my attention.

"You have no idea."

"I wonder, what did she do to catch your attention like that?"

"Well... she’s the reason why I’m still alive today."

Lillian blinked. "R-Really...?"

"Really."